Horseshoe Chamber Blog

When it comes time to repair their car, many people choose to take their vehicle straight to the dealership they bought it from. In fact, dealerships across the United States wrote over 316 million repair orders in 2017. However, millions of auto repair shops across the nation are smaller, independently-owned small businesses that help contribute directly to the local economy. If you're a small business owner looking to compete more with the larger shops in your area, here are a few tips to put you ahead and get your auto repair shop on the map. Know Your Competition The auto industry can be challenging enough as it is, but depending on where your business is located, your competition might be even more intense than you'd initially expect. Different areas of the country have different la...

Carbon emissions are at their highest rate since 2011, recent data shows. According to new research released by oil giant BP in its annual Statistical Review of World Energy, carbon emissions have risen at the fastest rate in nearly a decade and have jumped sharply since 2018 despite efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Surprise swings in global temperatures and extreme weather in the last year have increased the demand for fossil fuels. The global energy demand was up by 2.9%, nearly double the 1.5% average over the last 10 years. Carbon emissions also increased by 2%, the fastest rise in seven years. These percentages may seem small, but their implications aren't. "The energy data for 2018 paints a worrying picture," said Spencer Dale, the chief economist of BP. Dale says the i...

Over the years, people have been getting more and more creative with how they're building their homes. Those looking for eco-friendly alternatives to creating their own unique homes often end up creating entirely unique spaces with creative materials. Check out these green home ideas that are taking the real estate market by storm. Plastic Bottle Homes Today the world makes and consumes about 600 billion pounds of plastic yearly, and the market is still growing about 5% a year. With all that plastic getting made, a good amount of it ends up in landfills and as pollution, rather than in recycling centers. Some creative homeowners and builders have come up with a unique solution for this plastic waste: turning it into bricks for building. Many people have started to use plastic waste as a ...

Vehicular safety is still one of the biggest concerns for car shoppers, especially those with kids. There's a good reason for that. There are approximately 6 million car accidents in the United States each year, and according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), up to 34,247 fatal motor vehicle accidents occurred on U.S. roads in just 2017. That's approximately 11.4 deaths per 100,000 people. In fact, vehicle fatalities are the leading cause of accidental deaths among U.S. teenagers. Some vehicles are more dangerous than others New vehicles are equipped with the latest safety features every year, but about 14 million vehicles on the road today are 25 years old or older. Some of those vehicles are historically responsible for more highway deaths than others. When bu...

With nearly 70 million people documented as having criminal records by the Interstate Identification Index, being locked up is something that a staggering number of Americans have experienced first-hand. In prison, incarcerated individuals don't have the chance to experience many simple pleasures or basic freedoms. But taking the opportunity to educate oneself and to stimulate the mind through the written word have generally been allowed. Although prison libraries and education programs may be lacking in many facilities, inmates usually have the chance to learn in some capacity. However, the Arizona Department of Corrections has taken extreme steps to bar those incarcerated from reading a particular title that they say would be "detrimental to the safe, secure, and orderly operation" of it...

Small businesses are feeling good about the economy and about their personal futures. According to the latest CNBC Small Business Survey, the small confidence index reading has climbed to 59 from its 58 rating in the first quarter of 2019. This means small business owners are optimistic about the direction of their business for the next 12 months. "Businesses are feeling pretty good, the economy is doing well, and confidence is still at high levels," said Todd McCracken, the CEO and president of the National Small Business Association. The survey shows that 60% of respondents expect revenue to increase in the next year. The percentage of small business owners who say they expect their revenue to decline (6%) is the lowest percentage since Q1 2018. What's more, the percentage of business ...

In the U.S., car accidents are all too common. Approximately six million occur every year, leading to 1.25 million deaths. If you're a survivor of a fatal car crash, life can become excruciatingly difficult, whether you were responsible for the accident or not. NFL executive Terry McDonough knows exactly how crippling survivor's guilt can be; he decided to open up about his personal experience with drunk driving that resulted in the death of friend and classmate, Leslie Messina, back in 1982. "Not one day will ever go by," he said, "that I won't think about Leslie." Drugs other than alcohol are involved in approximately 18% of motor vehicle deaths. In McDonough's case, however, the culprit was beer. After having illegally drunk some Miller Lites just one month after his 17th birthday, Mc...

There's little doubt that the United States is in the midst of an opioid crisis. While four out of five new heroin users start out by misusing prescription painkillers, it's now often the prescription drugs themselves that lead to devastation and death. Between 1999 and 2014, more than 165,000 people in the U.S. died from prescription opioid overdoses. While prescription opioids do have their important uses, it's clear that they are far too easy to obtain -- and that many medical professionals are far too willing to prescribe them to patients. Given what we now know about the benefits of pain management alternatives, Arizona is now considering a bill that would add chiropractic coverage to Medicaid policies, in an attempt to keep opioid prescriptions (and addictions) down. Worldwide, mo...